Re: Re: HillRunner.com Pick and Win Contest: 2012 Boston Marathon

Rita, honestly I'm not even talking about the Boston local spectators and how they embrace the race when I bring that up. For them, like you stated, it's their race. It's a great local tradition and a source of civic pride. It's as unique in running as the Kentucky Derby in horse racing or the Green Bay Packers in football.

What I meant was that, for spectators like myself watching online from a distance, the unpredictability of Boston due to the widely variable weather conditions, the lack of pacers, the nature of the course and everything else that goes into it makes it one of the most exciting races to watch. In other races, you kind of know how the script goes even before the gun goes off. At Boston, you have no idea. There was a lot of speculation before the race that the Kenyans would still go out at a blistering pace and try to run everyone into the ground. Not only did they not do that, when presented with the opportunity to go at a slightly less pedestrian pace early on they actively turned it down. The race still became the battle of attrition it was expected to be but it was in slow motion. It was amazing to watch 2:04-2:06 marathoners fall apart at 2:12 pace, a relative jog for those guys. It was a reminder of how much the weather really does affect all of us, even the best prepared. In a way, it was a reminder after all the excitement over last year's times that they were greatly affected by the weather. At the same time of that reminder, it made for an incredible show. Giants of the recent marathon scene succumbing to the conditions, a head to head battle to the very end of two women who were mostly overlooked before the race, a late race surge in the men's race by another largely overlooked runner to overtake yet another mostly overlooked runner and win the men's race.

It proved races don't have to be fast to be exciting. It also proved that, when you have no idea beforehand what will happen, the excitement is that much greater.